


Lucky and Reckless

by tirsynni



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Blood and Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 06:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19193653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tirsynni/pseuds/tirsynni
Summary: In which Link bleeds all over Revali's rock, Revali refuses to say the words, and there is nothing quite like cool Rito air after Death Mountain's heat.





	Lucky and Reckless

Despite his fireproof armor, Link smelled his hair burning as he teleported from Death Mountain to the rock by Vah Medoh’s feet. No skin this time, at least, but Link was too sore and tired and hot to count it as a win. As soon as he materialized completely, Link stripped out of the heavy armor. The air was cool and crisp and soothing against his sensitive skin. Sighing, every inch of him aching, Link settled himself on his back on the rock and stared at the red light shining from Medoh.

Perhaps the only thing worse than the feeling of burning alive on Death Mountain was looking at the Gorons and their village and feeling  _ nothing _ . Nothing triggered a memory of Daruk. Telling himself that it took a while to remember anything about the other Champions didn’t help. He looked at the village and the mines and the volcano itself and there was nothing.

Link breathed in the cool air and let it settle in his scorched lungs. He should grab an elixir or head down to recover in the inn. All of his experience with Taluses meant nothing when lava was involved and he couldn’t use his bomb arrows. The fireproof suit helped minimize certain types of damage but did nothing about bruises. Yet…

Yet. Link stared at Vah Medoh, at its familiar shape. Since freeing Revali, memories about him came easier. So much of it was fragmented, leaving him confused about both Revali and himself, but there was something comforting about them. He came from somewhere. He had a history. He had a past, even if it was as burned as his memories.

Beside him, Revali appeared in a flourish of ghostly green, and Link smiled. Most importantly, he shared that history with someone...even if it  _ was _ Revali.

“Well,” Revali greeted, “you look terrible. You do realize that Rudania isn’t actually in the lava, correct?”

His initial memories of Revali were certainly disorienting. Link had wondered if  _ everyone _ back then hated him. Now he found Revali oddly soothing. He had no idea what their relationship was then. Perhaps he would figure it out later. 

“Talus,” he said. A deep breath teased at bruised ribs, but Link doubted they were broken. His ears rang a bit, but Revali’s scowl and the white clouds behind him were clear. Probably no concussion. Probably.

Did the old Link find Revali funny? Because Link currently found Revali hilarious when he scowled and fluffed up his feathers like that. He met cats at some of the stables who did that when they were trying to look intimidating. Even the green light shining around Revali intensified.

...that part wasn’t as funny.

“At least some things haven’t changed in a hundred years,” Revali huffed. He sat cross-legged beside Link. Link couldn’t feel Revali’s feathers brushing against him but the air around him was cool and electric. Alive even if Revali wasn’t. “As reckless as ever. It stuns me that the  _ legendary _ sword which seals the darkness chose such an impetuous fool of all people.” He hummed and stared at Hyrule Castle, lit by Ganon’s Malice and three bright beams. “Or perhaps that is why it chose you… Only someone possessing such recklessness and so secure in their own illusion of immortality would agree to charge toward Calamity Ganon with only a  _ sword _ in his hand.”

Link only hummed and studied Revali’s profile. Soon he would grab an elixir but right now he wanted to relax and enjoy the cold air.

Still… “Was I so reckless?” he asked quietly. He remembered Princess Zelda scolding him and wrapping his arm, but little else. Anything prior to being chosen as Champion was especially vague. If he  _ was _ so reckless, was he prior to being chosen by the Master Sword?

Revali grunted and clacked his beak. “Aren’t you ever going to clean up?” he demanded instead of answering. He waved a wing over Link’s sprawled body. “You’re bleeding all over  _ my _ rock. Not to mention the state of your hair. Not even birds would willing nest in that. The only living representative of the Champions and Hylia chose you. An absolute disgrace --”

“Bleeding?” Link interrupted. Once Revali started on the state of Link’s hair, he could go for hours.

Revali sighed as if Link’s very existence was an insult. “I hope your luck continues, or we are all doomed.” He gestured toward Link’s left shoulder. His feathers skimmed over the cloth of Link’s tunic. Link wished he could feel it. “I have so little space of my own, so of course you would bleed all over it.”

Pain was a strange thing. When Link awoke on the Great Plateau, pain was an immediate, sharp thing, lighting up his nerves and stealing his breath. It was the brightest thing in his world, as if the fog in his mind dulled everything else. He didn’t even notice anything odd about the dead king until his final two visits with him. For many days after the Plateau, pain was a constant companion, so regular that Link stopped noticing after a while. Now many fights ended this way. He reached up and traced the torn cloth with his fingers. He would notice some wounds but not the rest, not until the battle fury faded or someone pointed it out.

His shoulder hurt, pain increasing with every press of his fingers, but Link decided it wasn’t that bad. Several weeks ago he walked away from a white Lynel fight, only realizing when he awoke to Mipha healing him that the Lynel sliced a gash the length of Link’s forearm along Link’s back.

In comparison, the gash in his shoulder was small, if bleeding profusely. Link sighed and started looking for an appropriate elixir, less for his wound and more to stall any further complaints.

Revali stared at him as he poured the elixir on the wound, then gulped the rest. Link watched the wound heal and waited for Revali’s commentary: something about how slow Link’s wingless form was or how ridiculous it was that Link was chosen to be the Champion when a Talus hurt him or whatever inspired him then. 

“If you are curious about your lost memories, Mipha would be better to ask.” Link blinked at him, but Revali turned to scowl at the castle, eyes flashing. His feathers remained fluffed, green light intense around him. “You grew up with her, after all, and I’m sure her retellings would be far more flattering than mine.”

_ But she always looks so hurt when I ask, even if she tries to hide it. _

Link didn’t remember much. He remembered some of Mipha. He knew that she loved him. He thought -- perhaps -- that he loved her back. Or at least felt enough to agree to marry her if she asked. Now, though, he felt protective at most, enough to not want that hurt expression to cross her face.

Now, truly, he didn’t know how he felt about anything.

Suddenly exhausted, Link shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” He reviewed his wounds, more diligently than before. The elixir was handling his ribs and shoulder nicely. Everything ached, either from the Talus or that damned armor, but he thought he handled the worst of it.

Link closed his eyes and breathed. His chest hurt with each inhale but felt better thanks to the elixir. He could still smell his hair. His shoulder still hurt, but he knew that soon it would be just another scar. Up here, so high above the village, the breeze was sharp and cold and ruffled his hair, but it wasn’t loud enough to let Link forget that he only heard his breath and not Revali’s.

“You should get down to the village.” Revali’s voice sounded oddly gruff. “Get actual medical care instead of throwing whatever foul concoction you made down your throat. It would be pathetic indeed if Hyrule’s light killed himself before he even made it to Calamity Ganon.”

It was strange how, sometimes, Revali’s voice didn’t match his words at all.

Perhaps as strange as Link preferring Revali’s company over Mipha’s or Urbosa’s or Teba’s or Sidon’s. There was something comforting about Revali, something about him which strangely soothed something in Link’s chest, and he wished he knew if it was a new thing or something a century old.

If he succeeded, that comfort would be gone forever.

“Do you mind,” he heard himself ask, “if I stayed up here instead? For a little while?”

Revali huffed and turned to look at Link. Like with his voice, the heavy look in his eyes didn’t match his words at all. “You might as well. You’ve already stained my rock. Just remember: if you roll off the edge, I won’t stop you.”

Not can’t: won’t. Something about that distinction made Link smile. The look in his eyes made his heart hurt worse than his body.

“Thank you,” he said and closed his eyes. He thought he felt the odd electric charge of Revali’s presence by his forehead but didn’t open his eyes to look. His mind whispered where he had seen Revali’s expression before.

Revali’s sigh sounded strangely resigned and breathless. A dead man’s sigh. “May the Goddesses watch out for idiots and fools. You need all the help you can get.” The air above Link’s face grew charged. A cold breeze swept over his lips. 

Perhaps it was easier to notice physical pain back on the Plateau because he didn’t know what real pain was then. Pain wasn’t a club to the spine or a Talus throwing a rock in your face. Pain was a dead man’s kiss and hearing only one person breathing.

Did he know this a century ago? Did it even matter?

Link kept his eyes closed and focused on the pain in his ribs. He survived that and crazier things. He would survive this.

More importantly, perhaps, if he was lucky enough and  _ reckless _ enough to defeat Calamity Ganon and all of his armies…

Perhaps he could figure out how a dead man could survive, too.

**Author's Note:**

> More BotW (and Revalink and Rito love) on my [tumblr](http://tirsynni.tumblr.com/).


End file.
